Paloma Partners Management Co Cuts Stock Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Paloma Partners Management Co reduced its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,326 shares of the company’s stock after selling 616 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Premier were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Premier by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after buying an additional 773,207 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Premier by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after buying an additional 772,392 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 5.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,741,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,836,000 after acquiring an additional 97,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Premier by 6.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after acquiring an additional 98,544 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PINC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.36.

Premier Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ PINC opened at $21.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $21.09 and its 200-day moving average is $20.04. Premier, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.95 and a 12-month high of $23.56.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s payout ratio is presently 61.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 1,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $25,292.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 558,143 shares in the company, valued at $11,168,441.43. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andy Brailo sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total value of $346,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 87,410 shares in the company, valued at $1,784,038.10. This trade represents a 16.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,315 shares of company stock worth $2,105,751 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Premier Profile

Premier, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a healthcare improvement company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Supply Chain Services and Performance Services. The Supply Chain Services segment offers its members with an access to a range of products and services, including medical and surgical products, pharmaceuticals, laboratory supplies, capital equipment, information technology, facilities and construction, and food and nutritional products, as well as purchased services, such as clinical engineering and workforce solutions.